Nate had shoulder surgery on January 23. It was a surgery he has been putting off for a long time. When you run a dairy farm, there is never a good time to have surgery. It was to the point when the surgery needed to be done – not if it should be done. Nate is healing and going stir crazy with his arm in an immobilizer. He isn’t used to being in the house all day, every day. Vivian and Everett are enjoying the extra dad time they are getting. Nate has begun making his way outside from time to time but the majority of his time is spent in the house.
Every six weeks we have a dairy supply routeman came to the farm. He isn’t just our routeman but he is our friend. He cares how the kids are doing and I like to hear all about his grandchildren and family. He sees our kids grow. He is here when things are not so great on the farm and he is here when things are great on the farm. As I was talking to our dairy supply routeman last week, the conversation centered around how Nate was doing and feeling, how I have had help with the kids from my aunts and cousin and how my uncle came a couple nights to help with chores. We talked about how I was handling the workload. I told him how milking and chores take longer with one person but having help with feeding is huge. How I just take my time and try really hard not to get worked up how long it is taking. How I second guess myself a hundred times each milking. Our routeman always has kind words, words of encouragement or a good joke when we see him. This time I was being the ever optimistic – sometimes I think it is a fault of mine – I kept saying, “It will get better. It isn’t for forever. I just take my time so the cows don’t get worked up and then I don’t get worked up. It will be OK.” A mantra of mine, “It’ll be OK.”
Our routeman gave me a hug and told me, “There is always light at the end of the tunnel. Might be very dim but it will get brighter.” I didn’t know I needed it but I needed a hug. Sometimes all you need is a hug. Sometimes all you need is a hug from your routeman to get through chores.
Raising a Farmer 
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